1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving recorder that records vehicle driving condition data (including image data and vehicle traveling data) when a traffic accident occurs or during dangerous driving, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, as means that contributes to reducing the occurrence of traffic accidents and to perform a post-analysis, a driving recorder is mounted in more and more vehicles.
As an example of a conventional technique related to the foregoing, JP-A-2008-52230 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) can be cited.
As a matter of fact, so long as the conventional driving recorder mentioned above is mounted in a vehicle, a driver who is unwilling to have a traffic accident caused by his or her negligence or dangerous driving recorded in that driving recorder becomes conscious of defensive driving all the times, contributing to reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents accordingly. If a driver is involved in a traffic accident despite the fact that that driver is irrelevant to negligence in the driving, analyzing thereafter driving condition data recorded in the driving recorder in his or her vehicle makes it possible to verify driver's innocence.
The conventional driving recorder as described above, however, finds applications mainly in commercial vehicles (such as taxies, buses, trucks) whereas wide spreading thereof is hardly seen in general vehicles (private cars).
One of the factors causing that situation is that the conventional driving recorder needs a personal computer as means for reading the driving condition data recorded therein, or confirming and changing an operation setting thereof; thus it is not easy for ordinary users to handle it.
For example, in the case of the conventional driving recorder, to read the driving condition data recorded therein, or to confirm and change an operation setting thereof, it is necessary to connect the conventional driving recorder directly to a personal computer via a USB (universal serial bus) cable or a LAN (Local Area Network) cable, or to exchange necessary data between the driving recorder and the personal computer using a certain medium (such as removable memory card); such work is not easily done by users (female users or elderly persons) who are not familiar to handling of the devices mentioned above.
Without a personal computer, a user cannot read the driving condition data recorded in the driving recorder or confirm and change an operation setting thereof by himself or herself at any time; accordingly, the driving recorder is barely used except for the purpose of providing information recorded in the driving recorder to a police station or insurance company in case the user encounters a traffic accident. Therefore, the conventional driving recorder is somewhat less appealing than that encouraging consumers to buy.
Moreover, it is rarely the case that a user, even if owing a personal computer, brings it with him or her when driving a car; accordingly, the user cannot read the driving condition data recorded in the driving recorder immediately after he or she encountered a traffic accident. Thus, it is impossible, while looking at the driving condition data recorded in the driving recorder, to report a status of the accident to a police station or to insist on his or her innocence to another party involved in that accident, and hence, it is impossible to sufficiently enjoy a benefit that would be obtainable if the driving recorder is mounted in a vehicle.
The driving condition data is very useful for analyzing a status of a vehicle-related accident, particularly after it has occurred. Thus, it is preferable that leakage of the driving condition data be prevented as much as possible.